How to Hang Your Camping Hammock: Here’s The Solution!
If you want to go camping or even take a hike and hang out in the woods, a hammock becomes a necessity for you to be able to rest and just leisure away. And for that, you need to be able to set up the hammock.
Fortunately setting up a hammock can be learned easily. Most hammocks are available with instructions for setting it up which are easy to follow.
All you need to know are a few basic things when it comes to picking up a new hammock for your camping. Choosing the right kind of place to hang and fix up your hammock, and set up camp. Especially during summer, the hammock season gets more prevalent.
It is also not always necessary to set up a hammock for camping, somewhere far. You can also indulge in being out in the fresh air in your backyard, if you have one, and set a permanent hammock for yourself there.
Nothing is more enjoyable than being able to relax, and hang in the shade and enjoy fresh outdoor air, in your camping hammock. So before we get into the details, there are a few things that need to be kept in mind when you are choosing to get your hammock.
First, remember to choose a hammock that you can hang in the way that you prefer or close to it, whichever suits your convenience.
Second, which is the most important thing to keep in mind before you start to set up your hammock, is that you need the right distance and the right-sized hammock accordingly.
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Ways to Hang your Camping Hammock:
There are basically few various ways to hang a hammock in general, however, the two most popular ways to hang a camping hammock is:
- Hanging your hammock between trees – Hanging your camping hammock from a tree where all you need for equipment is the right kinds of rope, hanging tree straps, other hanging hardware for the hammock, and two trees that are at the right distances according to the size of your hammock.
- Hanging your camping hammock between cars – Where the above way is generally common while camping outdoors, another simple and cool way is to hang your hammock by using your car, or 2 cars to be specific.This method is actually very simple to set up where all you need is enough space to hang the hammock, the basic requirement being 2 cars of course, and some hanging ropes and straps.
However, in this case, you would require to have roof racks, as it provides a good place to fasten the hammock hanging straps or ropes.
In both cases though, it must be ensured that there is not too much tension without any kind of weight on the hammock and is not made too tight, as this can lead to everything crashing down when you actually got to lay and rest on it.
Hanging Your Camping Hammock Between Trees
As already mentioned before the first thing that needs to be checked is that there should be a needful distance of around 10 – 15 feet between the trees, which also depends on the length and the style of your camping hammock, as well as the amount of tension you want.
The length of the hammock will decide the length of the space between the trees if you have a spreader bar hammock. You can hang extra braces or chain lengths to suspend your hammock for spaces that are several feet longer than your hammock.
The perfect sitting height between your hammock and the ground is 18 cm. This is the average height of a chair, which makes it very convenient for you to sit in your hammock.
When you are going to hang your hammock between trees (or somewhere else outside), try to hang the suspension of the camping hammock (rope, strap, string, chain, etc.) at a 30-degree angle. This angle provides the exact amount of force required.
However, again, you don’t want to set up your camping hammock too tightly. The more you tighten your hammock, the greater the force is on the suspension and anchor points.
Consider securing a minimum of 48 inches up the trees with tree straps, cables, or other suspension and anchors. Wrap the two tree trunks firmly with a rope, secure tree harness, or other suspensions.
Then use a knot, carabiner, or other camping hammock hardware to connect the hammock’s suspension to the eye (end loops).
The best thing to use is the tree straps that are softer on trees, whereas using anchoring hardware is detrimental to trees, and should be used diligently.
Hanging Your Camping Hammock Between Cars
The basic requirement, which comes first when it comes to hanging your hammock is that you need a solid roof rack on your car to be able to support not only your hammock but also your weight.
It is extremely important to assess whether or not the roof is secure enough to support your weight in safety issues and not to damage your vehicle. Find out the weight limit of your roof rack by reading the owner manual of your car.
You would also want to test its protection and durability first before you start laying it in your hammock. If you surpass the weight limit, your car can be damaged or injured.
You will need to park your car at the correct amount of distance from a tree after you have checked that the roof rack can support your weight. The tree is tied to the roof rack with the help of tree straps, ropes, or chords.
Then tie the eyes of the hammock to these straps and make sure that there is a comfortable distance to the ground and that the hammock has your desired sleeping or relaxing slope for you to rest in.
Conclusion
So as you can already see, it is not very difficult to hang your camping hammock with the right kind of hammock hardware and equipment.
You can hang them between trees using different methods, but it is suggested to use tree straps, since ropes are not always stable and secure, and hardware like hammock hooks ends up damaging trees.
When it’s cool and simple to mount a hammock to cars, vehicles, roof racks, and a lot of space is needed.
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